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Identify the type of skeleton suitable for your model, setting the foundation for the rigging process.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
4 min.
Transcript
00:04
Here, we have our creature model.
00:06
And as you can see, I've adjusted the pose slightly so that when his arms are lowered,
00:10
he will be in a more relaxed pose.
00:14
We also have the topology updates too.
00:16
So he's pretty much ready to start working with,
00:19
with that said,
00:20
there may be areas on the model where we need to add in the extra edge loop or two
00:25
to help with the defamation.
00:27
But we will come to those as we work our way around
00:30
before we create our first joint.
00:32
Let's take a moment to think about the sort of skeleton we want,
00:36
we know this is going to be a game model and that comes with its own set of rules.
00:41
We also know that this will eventually be used in the Unreal game engine.
00:45
So what I've done is export the default Mannequin from Unreal.
00:49
So we can take a look at that and use it as a guide.
00:53
Now, you don't necessarily need to follow it exactly.
00:56
But sometimes it makes things easier if you intend on using existing animations.
00:60
For example,
01:02
you can quite happily ignore the joint names and
01:04
orientations and use your own setup if you prefer,
01:07
which is what I usually do.
01:10
So here he is
01:12
and we can see his skeleton here.
01:14
So this is pretty much how we want our creature's skeleton to be.
01:18
It has all the main joints we need. So the engine can use it without any issues.
01:24
We will use roughly the same joint count.
01:26
Although I do like to add a few extra joints in
01:28
to help with defamation and make the character more flexible.
01:32
We will also use the same names
01:35
where we will stray from. This skeleton is with the joint orientations.
01:40
As you can see,
01:41
the unreal mannequin uses X as its primary axis which points to the next joint.
01:48
What we are going to do is use Y instead.
01:50
And there are a couple of reasons behind this choice.
01:53
Firstly, when it comes to moving around in Maya,
01:56
X and Z are seen more as the positional axes,
01:60
whereas Y refers more to height.
02:03
So it makes sense to replicate this in our rig.
02:07
The second reason is that there has been research done on this subject
02:10
and why was found to have fewer issues when exported to unreal,
02:15
particularly with Eula flipping.
02:17
This is when joints have a wide range of movement and the rotations
02:21
go above 360 or below minus 360 which can cause them to flip.
02:28
You can sometimes correct these using May's Eula filter found in the graph editor.
02:34
So this is the skeleton
02:37
and we also have twist joints which will help when we
02:40
come to rig the upper and lower arms and the legs.
02:45
OK. Let's hide the parts of the model we don't need. So the clothing mainly,
03:00
oh, we need to keep the head
03:04
and let's turn off the texture
03:07
and let's use default lighting.
03:09
Let's also hide the floor playing for. Now,
03:12
we also need to see the wire frame as that will help guide joint placement.
03:19
Let's open the create joint tool options.
03:29
So as mentioned, we do need Y to be the primary axis. So let's set this to Y
03:35
and change secondary axis world orientation to Z because
03:39
we want our Z axis to point forwards.
03:42
Now these can easily be changed.
03:44
So it's not essential, you set these here, but it could save a bit of time.
03:49
Let's also enable projected centering.
03:52
So may can help place each joint in the middle of the model.
03:57
Let's move the outliner
04:00
and hide the mannequin.
Video transcript
00:04
Here, we have our creature model.
00:06
And as you can see, I've adjusted the pose slightly so that when his arms are lowered,
00:10
he will be in a more relaxed pose.
00:14
We also have the topology updates too.
00:16
So he's pretty much ready to start working with,
00:19
with that said,
00:20
there may be areas on the model where we need to add in the extra edge loop or two
00:25
to help with the defamation.
00:27
But we will come to those as we work our way around
00:30
before we create our first joint.
00:32
Let's take a moment to think about the sort of skeleton we want,
00:36
we know this is going to be a game model and that comes with its own set of rules.
00:41
We also know that this will eventually be used in the Unreal game engine.
00:45
So what I've done is export the default Mannequin from Unreal.
00:49
So we can take a look at that and use it as a guide.
00:53
Now, you don't necessarily need to follow it exactly.
00:56
But sometimes it makes things easier if you intend on using existing animations.
00:60
For example,
01:02
you can quite happily ignore the joint names and
01:04
orientations and use your own setup if you prefer,
01:07
which is what I usually do.
01:10
So here he is
01:12
and we can see his skeleton here.
01:14
So this is pretty much how we want our creature's skeleton to be.
01:18
It has all the main joints we need. So the engine can use it without any issues.
01:24
We will use roughly the same joint count.
01:26
Although I do like to add a few extra joints in
01:28
to help with defamation and make the character more flexible.
01:32
We will also use the same names
01:35
where we will stray from. This skeleton is with the joint orientations.
01:40
As you can see,
01:41
the unreal mannequin uses X as its primary axis which points to the next joint.
01:48
What we are going to do is use Y instead.
01:50
And there are a couple of reasons behind this choice.
01:53
Firstly, when it comes to moving around in Maya,
01:56
X and Z are seen more as the positional axes,
01:60
whereas Y refers more to height.
02:03
So it makes sense to replicate this in our rig.
02:07
The second reason is that there has been research done on this subject
02:10
and why was found to have fewer issues when exported to unreal,
02:15
particularly with Eula flipping.
02:17
This is when joints have a wide range of movement and the rotations
02:21
go above 360 or below minus 360 which can cause them to flip.
02:28
You can sometimes correct these using May's Eula filter found in the graph editor.
02:34
So this is the skeleton
02:37
and we also have twist joints which will help when we
02:40
come to rig the upper and lower arms and the legs.
02:45
OK. Let's hide the parts of the model we don't need. So the clothing mainly,
03:00
oh, we need to keep the head
03:04
and let's turn off the texture
03:07
and let's use default lighting.
03:09
Let's also hide the floor playing for. Now,
03:12
we also need to see the wire frame as that will help guide joint placement.
03:19
Let's open the create joint tool options.
03:29
So as mentioned, we do need Y to be the primary axis. So let's set this to Y
03:35
and change secondary axis world orientation to Z because
03:39
we want our Z axis to point forwards.
03:42
Now these can easily be changed.
03:44
So it's not essential, you set these here, but it could save a bit of time.
03:49
Let's also enable projected centering.
03:52
So may can help place each joint in the middle of the model.
03:57
Let's move the outliner
04:00
and hide the mannequin.
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